- Top three threats described as “urgent”

A lot of people talk about repurposing drugs, but no one has actually done it.

Led by a veteran biopharma team, Facile Therapeutics is repurposing the orally bioavailable small molecule Ebselen into clinical trials to demonstrate that this molecule, already de-risked for human safety, will be effective in treating Clostridium difficile infection (CDI). We have shown that Ebselen is effective in an animal model of CDI.

Moreover, Ebselen was previously evaluated in late-stage clinical trials for stroke. While efficacy was insufficient for approval, the drug was shown to have a favorable safety profile.

Facile will bring Ebselen directly into a streamlined Phase 2 proof-of-concept trial which would initiate in late 2018.

Ebselen is differentiated from all other candidates in the CDI pipeline: 1) it is a small-molecule anti-toxin 2) it is not an antibiotic 3) it is not derived from human feces.